RICHMOND, VA — Thank goodness someone in the Virginia Lieutenant Governor’s office has her eye glued to the gaydar. Otherwise who knows what sort of mischief the Virginia delegation to the Republican National Convention might have gotten into.According to an ABC News report, an aide to Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling cancelled an order for 150 Minneapolis-St. Paul entertainment guidebooks because the books included a six- to eight-page section about gay and lesbian nightclubs. The books, called Secrets of the City were to be given as gifts to members of the Virginia delegation.
“Having a section dedicated solely to GLBT will be a BIG problem for
many of our folks,” Melissa Busse wrote in an email to the publisher, Rake Publishing. “We simply can’t hand them out.”
And who could blame Busse for her viewpoint? According to Rake’s website, the Minneapolis-St. Paul area has a vibrant gay entertainment community. Among the GLBT options in the Twin Cities are “queer speed dating” and “dildo bingo.”
In a prepared statement, Bolling, a Republican, said he was unaware of the decision and disagreed with it.
Nightclub owners, however, said the lack of guidebooks doesn’t seem to have harmed their business.
“We’ve had quite a spike,” Robert Parker, manager of the Gay 90s club in downtown Minneapolis, told ABC News. The club features a popular drag show. “Mostly people who are curious come down and they wind up having a good time. Mississippi, Alabama, California, Arizona — I’ve seen people from all over.”
He also had some fairly strong words for the Virginia delegation.
“Shame on them for not distributing the guidebooks,” he told ABC News, adding that Gay 90s “is all about inclusiveness, including everybody no
matter who and what you are. I think if perhaps Republicans come
and see that and they come in and see that the world could be that way, then they may learn something.”
